Refraction waves full waveform inversion of deep reflection seismic profiles in the central part of Lhasa Terrane

The deep reflection seismic method is an effective technique for detecting the fine structures of the lithosphere and solving deep geological problems. At present, the methods for obtaining the underground velocity from land deep reflection seismic profile mainly rely on the travel-time information based velocity analysis and tomography, which theoretically limit the resolution of the imaging results. To achieve the goal of using deep reflection seismic profile for crustal-scale high-precision velocity imaging, we must finally overcome the problem of full waveform inversion (FWI) using full wavefield data. In this paper, we successfully conduct FWI using the early-arrival wavefields (mainly primary and multiple refraction wavefields) in the deep reflection seismic profile, which can be seen as the first important step towards the goal of crustal-scale high-precision velocity imaging. We propose a robust refraction waves FWI workflow with global normalized cross-correlation, multiple refraction matching, reverse time source estimation and wavenumber domain gradient filtering as its core algorithm. The application of the proposed FWI method to the refraction waves of the deep reflection seismic profiles in the central part of Lhasa Terrane shows that the refraction FWI images have a higher resolution to underground structures both in horizontal and vertical directions than the first-arrival tomography images. The lateral velocity change can be well-matched with the typical geological characteristics of the work area. The FWI result can better describe the lateral boundaries of the strata in different eras. At a depth of less than 3 km from the surface, the refraction FWI can correct the interface morphology of the tomography results and recover some small-scale velocity structures and high-velocity anomalies. •We conduct full waveform inversion using the early arrivals in the land deep reflection seismic profile.•Both primary and multiple refraction waves are inverted in this research.•Some common problems faced by land active source full waveform inversion are mitigated.•The strata of different ages are described clearly by the proposed full waveform inversion result.•High-velocity anomalies and small-scale structures can be imaged.